Stop by the online home of The Advocate (advocate.com) and you'll be greeted by James Hattori. Broadcast veteran Hattori is reporting stories with a gay angle from the Democratic National Convention. Fishing around the Pepsi Center to find such a story is not difficult this year because a record number of GLBT delegates are attending the gathering.

The video broadcasts are the most visible change an Advocate reader will notice at the site, but many more are planned.

Regent Media completed its purchase of the nation's oldest GLBT publication from troubled parent PlanetOut this week. Regent now owns many of America's most well-known gay brands, including magazines The Advocate, The Out Traveler, and Out, and Alyson Books along with their corresponding websites (advocate.com, out.com, outtraveler.com and alyson.com).

The company already owns film studio Regent Releasing and cable television channel here!, both of which are devoted to the gay & lesbian community.

Acquisition of The Advocate and the addition of news broadcasting to the website mirrors efforts being mounted by Viacom-owned Logo network and its news website 365gay.com, where it streams gay & lesbian news stories in collaboration with broadcasting partner CBS.

The magazine, which is devoted to GLBT news, will see more changes as incoming Editor-In-Chief Jon Barrett attempts to revive the struggling brand.

In a recent story from San Francisco based Bay Area Reporter, Barrett is quoted as saying publication frequency will drop from bi-weekly to monthly. A move Barret says will give the magazine “more room for bigger stories,” then added, “and we're going to get better writers.”

Barrett also said the magazine would no longer feature celebrities on its covers, such as highlighting a straight man who is playing a gay role. Barrett said readers no longer want to read those stories, which lead to the inevitable question of what's it like for a straight man to kiss another man.

On the net: The Advocate website www.advocate.com